Apple Watch Fails to unlock macOS

[polyphenol]

When I installed 26 (all round), I found some of the slight issues about my watch not always unlocking were resolved. Now on macOS 26.0.1 and WatchOS 26.0.2.

Trouble is, in the past few days both my Mac mini M4 and my M1 MBP seem to have decided to ignore my watch. The displays on macOS says they are unlocking with my watch, so they recognise the watch exists and that it is present, but then insist on password or TouchID.

At the same time, my iPhone is unlocking from the watch more reliably than ever!

Not the end of the world, of course. But consistency is very much appreciated. Not having to wonder every time whether or not it will work.

 

[chabig]

This used to work a few versions ago. Maybe it still does. (follow at your own discretion)

1. Open "Keychain Access"
2. In "View", enable "Show Invisible Items"
3. Search for "Auto Unlock"
4. You should see a whole bunch of application passwords for "Auto Unlock: XXXX's ..."
5. Select all records and delete (this will reset/disable auto unlock on other Macs if you use multiple Macs)
6. Whilst still in "Keychain Access", search for "AutoUnlock" (no space)
7. There should be 4 entries for "tlk" "tlk-nonsync" "classA" "classC"
8. Select 4 records and delete (don't worry if they re-appear, the system repairs this automatically)
9. Open "Finder" and navigate to "~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock"
10. There should be two files "ltk.plist" and "pairing-records.plist"
11. Delete both files
12. Open "System Preferences" and try enabling auto unlock. You may need to enable it twice, the first attempt will fail.

If it seems not to work at first, wait a few hours later and it will probably be fine. Maybe it has to sync with iCloud. I don’t know.

 

[polyphenol]

Thank you - have not done it all yet but will be trying. Looks promising.

A bit of a surprise to see entries from 2020 for my one-before-last iPhone in there! I though they'd have been tided when I removed the device.

 

[Asthmatic Kitty]

Perhaps a silly question, but I presume you've tried turning the toggle off and on again in Touch ID & Password → Apple Watch first? When my watch has stopped working properly that's always fixed it for me.

 

[polyphenol]

Perhaps a silly question, but I presume you've tried turning the toggle off and on again in Touch ID & Password → Apple Watch first? When my watch has stopped working properly that's always fixed it for me.

Just tried - didn't help at all. Will try a restart as well and see if that gets over it.

 

[jz0309]

Just tried - didn't help at all. Will try a restart as well and see if that gets over it.

on the few occasions I had this happening over the year, disabling it on the Mac, rebooting Mac and then re-enabling has always worked for me ...

 

[polyphenol]

on the few occasions I had this happening over the year, disabling it on the Mac, rebooting Mac and then re-enabling has always worked for me ...

Thanks - but no help.

My MBP can clearly talk to my watch because when I accessed Passwords, I could approve that by double-click on my watch.

Two complete cycles of disable/restart/enable/restart - no progress.

 

[jz0309]

Thanks - but no help.

My MBP can clearly talk to my watch because when I accessed Passwords, I could approve that by double-click on my watch.

Two complete cycles of disable/restart/enable/restart - no progress.

when rebooting the Mac after disabling, reboot both iPhone and watch too

 

[polyphenol]

when rebooting the Mac after disabling, reboot both iPhone and watch too

Thank you. I had already restarted everything but re-did it.

Had to do that twice to get it to work!

And I have no idea why it stopped working in the first place.

 

[jz0309]

Thank you. I had already restarted everything but re-did it.

Had to do that twice to get it to work!

And I have no idea why it stopped working in the first place.

well, participating in this thread must have jinxed my MacStudio, doesn't want to unlock with my AW anymore as of this morning ;(, already did the disable/reboot thing once ;(
it said it's "syncing" and the toggle is on, still not working ...

No idea why it stopped, was working fine just yesterday ...

 

[jz0309]

well, participating in this thread must have jinxed my MacStudio, doesn't want to unlock with my AW anymore as of this morning ;(, already did the disable/reboot thing once ;(
it said it's "syncing" and the toggle is on, still not working ...

No idea why it stopped, was working fine just yesterday ...

and now, after I typed the above post I was going to reboot again, but thought I'll try one more time, put Mac to sleep - voila, it's working again ... totally bizarre

 

[NoBoMac]

My M4 Air will occasionally not recognize the Watch, usually after a long sleep, but has been pretty solid for unlock. Have not had to resort to @chabig instructions since first setup. A lot more solid vs Intel Macs/OSes.

The put back to sleep and rewake seems to do the trick for me.

 

[polyphenol]

My M4 Air will occasionally not recognize the Watch, usually after a long sleep, but has been pretty solid for unlock. Have not had to resort to @chabig instructions since first setup. A lot more solid vs Intel Macs/OSes.

The put back to sleep and rewake seems to do the trick for me.

Unfortunately, I'd had seemingly random issues for a long time. Mostly OK but then would just demand password and not seem even to recognise the watch was within inches. However, when I updated to 26, it was solidly reliable. Then suddenly not working at all.

No matter how many sleep/wakes.

 

[JollyRoger8X]

on the few occasions I had this happening over the year, disabling it on the Mac, rebooting Mac and then re-enabling has always worked for me ...

This is what seems to work for me when this happens.

This last time (today), my Mac would get into this ridiculous cycle where it would appear to try to unlock with the Watch, spin the gears for a while, fail, then present the password prompt - only to interrupt me in the middle of typing my password to start the process all over again. Repeat ad nauseum. Infuriating, to say the least.

Disabling Auto Unlock on the Mac, rebooting it and rebooting my iPhone and Watch fixed it. ...for now.

 

[polyphenol]

This is what seems to work for me when this happens.

This last time (today), my Mac would get into this ridiculous cycle where it would appear to try to unlock with the Watch, spin the gears for a while, fail, then present the password prompt - only to interrupt me in the middle of typing my password to start the process all over again. Repeat ad nauseum. Infuriating, to say the least.

Disabling Auto Unlock on the Mac, rebooting it and rebooting my iPhone and Watch fixed it. ...for now.

I did that on my MBP - and it also fixed the issue (for now?) on my mac mini.